recently, a RI friend invited some of us to try out his legendary chicken rice.

that got me going again & i did a very good chicken rice 2.0. ^^

my RI friends saw the photos i posted & one friend organised a 10pax chicken rice dinner at my place this evening on 6.2.2017. ^^

this is CNY day10, so 3 friends went to get the best in town (chinatown haha!) lohei from 珍姐 at chinatown.

it’s among the loudest, most boisterous lohei i had. ^^

tai kor was reading out the auspicious phrases from his hand phone, & the rest of us shouting “huat ah”…

while i was putting out the dishes, the guys arranged the lohei.

they also got salmon & abalones.

& the paraphernalia of sauces & toppings.

it was a good lohei, refreshing not too sweet (we did not add all the sweet sauce & plum sauce).

for today i made 2 different preparations of chicken rice chicken 白斩鸡.

this was the poached method = 12 mins boiling water, 25mins off fire poaching, then quenched in cold water/ice. i cut chicken in two halves, if poaching whole chicken, about 15mins+30mins.

the other preparation is braised & steamed, recipe explained here.

& i made an excellent chilli.

i used 4 large red chilli, 2 chilli padi, 3cm ginger, 5 cloves garlic, 1/3cup (80ml) chicken stock, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp olive oil, and blend.

you could smell the chilli aroma when i lifted the cover. 🙂

this was totally cleaned out. my friends added some gravy from the veg & wiped clean every drop la…haha. 🙂

theory says the braised chicken should be sweeter.

& some friends thought so too.

but on balance, most including myself still preferred the poached chicken 滑鸡. texture did make a difference, enhancing the taste experience. 🙂

it is also easier to do, no need as much attention.

both chicken were tender, moist & sweet, & especially so with the chilli & chicken rice dark sauce.

i cooked 5 cups of rice for 10pax, it was quite enough. we did not take photo of the rice. it was quite fragrant & flavourful. again the best taste experience was with the chilli, and most of us except one took the dark sauce as well.

i made a few other dishes.

i braised the black belly pork with lor 鲁汁.

& the white belly pork with the chicken stock braise.

when it was first served, a friend tasted & it was excellent in flavours & texture. but the white belly pork dried out a bit (which i think means the timing was not good enough), the black nelly pork was still tender.

i didn’t notice as i only took it later when it’s almost finished.

so when i found the same with the pig skin (the pig stomach was ok), i returned it to the braise & heat up.

& then it was perfect. everyone was surprised with the difference in the texture.

this something i have not fully figure out yet. but i think if it dries out too quickly over the course of dinner, it means that the braise timing was not enough & should have been longer.

that’s a trial & error thingy.

i did the usual sit-fry veg.

bot vegetables were quite competent, pretty ok.

we finished every morsel of food! ^^

one friend brought really sweet cherries & strawberries.

another brought very sweet orange & also honey jackfruit, shiok la!

& a friend brought ritz apple strudel from royal ville 833 bukit timah shop.

very full so i share 1/2 a slice, pretty good & quite enjoyable, so actually i could have taken one whole slice.

i also made some fresh kaya.

so we had some white bread to enjoy kaya butter bread.

a friend brought some soda biscuits. we used to eat them when young. i had these with the kaya the next day & it went perfectly!

we had a great wonderful time together, making new memories la!

c.h.e.f andy